


Apple Pie

by InesStarkDowney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Steve Rogers Has Issues, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Is A Mama's Boy, both need a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 01:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10980855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InesStarkDowney/pseuds/InesStarkDowney
Summary: Steve has rough nights where he can't sleep and if he is awake all he feels is his inadequacy in a world that is still too foreign.Tony has rough nights where if he sleeps, he dreams of the fall and the ending, and then he can't sleep at all.Both find each other when they need it most and that way they make peace with their demons for a while by the best thing you can do at 4 am: baking.But what really matters is one another, of course.





	Apple Pie

**Author's Note:**

> This is not compliant with CA:CW simply because I wrote it as if Steve had told Tony about his parents and that way nothing went to shit and they trust each other :)
> 
> Also, in italic is somewhat a recipe of Apple Pie, I didn't follow it down to the core, since what mattered was Steve and Tony talking. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Steve cursed lightly, bringing his burnt thumb to his mouth, as if he was back to being a little boy, next to his mama, trying to cook and failing miserably, just to end up burning himself. As if he wasn't a super soldier with fast healing, and he needed his mama to kiss the hurt and tears away. But Steve was not back then, he was right here, in the kitchen, 4 am, because he couldn't sleep like most nights and he just wanted just some comfort food.

But the pancakes burnt and there was nothing to do about it. Since when did Steve become a mess in this, too? With his head against the cupboards, eyes closed, Steve sighed, trying to calm his rapid heart and the anger in his veins that made him close his hands in fists.

Tony walked barefoot, the cool of the floor calming his heart enough to steady his breathing. Tony slowly forgot about the heat inside his suit, the sweat down his back, the blood in his mouth and the sight... Falling. _All of them falling_.

A broken moan almost fell out of Tony's lips till he heard a light curse and quickly fell against the wall, breathing in and out, controlling himself because someone was there, someone that had been falling just minutes ago. _Fuck_.

Breathing in and out, Tony managed to regain himself and walk into the main area of the penthouse, where in the dark, with just New York lighting him up, Steve stood, head against the cupboards and burnt pancakes (or what Tony thought it was pancakes) on the stove. Tony ignored Steve falling and bleeding out in front of him, and focused on the breathing, living, gorgeous Steve right there in front of him, that apparently didn't know how to make pancakes.

Tony's heart skipped a beat and something squeezed it. Tony know what it was too well.

"I see someone was hungry..."

Steve jumped at the sound of Tony's voice and in that second, whatever anger boiled inside of him for no reason whatsoever just disappeared. Tony was there and Steve's focus was just that: Tony. Blue eyes scanned every inch of Tony, because it was 4 am and Tony should be sleeping after being awake for almost 26 hours (Because, yes, Steve kept track. Steve cared.). But the sight of those brown wide eyes, the eye bags that seemed darker and the faint sheet of sweat all over his exposed skin made Steve worry.

"Why are you awake, Tony?"

Tony walked up to Steve, as relaxed as his body could muster at the moment, and stood up right next to him. Steve was warm. The good kind of warm. So Tony ignore the question, ignored the fact that maybe Steve should know about the nightmares, and ignored the face Steve would have if Tony told anything. They had enough demons. To carry each other’s would be too much. To carry _Tony's_ demons would be too much.

"Can't you cook, Cap?"

Steve understood. But he still wondered and worried.

"Uh... Sometimes. Not tonight, obviously."

Tony chuckled and Steve just stared at him, observing the smile on Tony's lips, and things weren't so bad right then. Steve let himself fall into it and smile himself, even chuckle because Tony did it and things were lighter.

"What's so funny about it? Think you can do better than me?"

Tony turned to Steve and with a wicked smile, as if nothing was ever wrong, he let himself enjoy this little piece of heaven. _You got a chance at escape, run for it, run to Steve._

"Uh, yeah, actually I know I can."

"You can cook?" Steve asked surprised, thinking that Tony must have been joking with him, trying to get the better out of him, but then Tony was with his back to him and opening cupboards and drawers, taking out stuff, stuff to bake, Steve recognized it. Now, Steve wanted to laugh out loud, out of happiness, because of course Tony could cook, bake even. What couldn't Tony Stark do that didn't put Steve in the state of amazement?

"Yeah. Come on, come and help me out, sugarplum. An Apple Pie doesn't make itself and I think you need to, at least, make your all time American dessert once."

Tony looked inviting to Steve and, soon, Steve was right next to him, ready to do it.  Tony forgot the nightmares by then. Steve forgot the inadequacy in his body. It was all good and okay. It was time to bake, at 4:15 in the morning, after all.

"Tell me what you need."

"Okay, can't believe you are taking orders from me. Wow. Iron man is leading the team" Steve rolled his eyes, and though Tony spotted affection there, he moved on. Tony hang up too much on these things, and now he had a chance at making something out of it. "I need sugar, brown sugar, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, lemon Juice, pastry, butter, a large egg and apples... Obviously."

Steve stared at Tony, eyebrow arched, silently questioning where all of that information had come from within Tony's brain. Tony shooed him to pick up the things, as Tony helped.

"I used to bake... With Jarvis and my mom, when she was home. While she was away, I tried to learn as much as I could with Jarvis, every night. It was a nightmare for him. - Tony smiled fondly at the memory of a stressed out Jarvis trying to take care of a 6 year old Tony with the energy of a full battery and a need to learn how to bake. - Peal off the apples, and cut them very thinly. Fill about 7 cups with them."

_While Steve cut the apples with his utmost care and concentration, Tony mixed the sugars, flour and spices in a small bowl._

But Steve wasn't focused on the task at hand. He was focused on Tony beside him, the Tony that was talking about Jarvis... The human Jarvis that took care of him for years and his mother. Steve had an opening to a Tony that was rarely let out. So Steve grabbed on to it, because, to be honest, there was something young and childlike about Tony when he talked about his childhood. The childhood with love and care from the two people he loved most.

"What did you learn?"

"Honestly, everything. I was eager to learn new things, especially something that would make my mom proud. But there was a special attention to Italian food."

_Tony tossed the apples that Steve cut with lemon juice, added the sugar mixture and tossed it again._

"Your mom was Italian, wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was. And she missed home terribly. She talked to me about it, the times she put me to bed. I had Captain America bed time stories and then fairy tales of Italy. Not to mention that it was obvious she was proud of where she came from. She spoke to me solely in Italian. I guessed Italian food was the way to make her smile and Jarvis approved of it."

_With a pie plate ready, already, Tony filled it with the Apple mixture and covered it with the rest of the pastry._

Steve stared at Tony with a tiny smile as he watched him bake, but most of all, talk like there was nothing heavy lingering on his shoulders, as if they were just two guys, talking about their past, reminiscing, because things weren't that bad. And the calm in Tony's voice told Steve that: There had been times of utmost happiness that every child should have. And that made a part of Steve relax.

Tony didn't actually mind talking about it: about his mom and Jarvis; about cooking and baking with them; about his relationship with his mom, the Italian shared only between them. Truth was, only Rhodey knew about this, something this intimately. But Steve... It was Steve. How could Tony just not tell him these things? It came out as spontaneous as tinkering or getting lost in a new project. It should scare Tony. But there was neither fear nor apprehension in Tony's body. Just a peace of mind that didn't come often in the middle of the night.

_Tony finished the final arrangements on the pie, and put it in the oven, at 375 degrees, for about 40 minutes._

Now all they needed to do was wait.

Both sat down on top of the counters, thighs pressing against each other, shoulders bumping and hands grazing. The intimacy resonated in their bodies and no one dared to move. Whatever they had, this was it, this was good, no way they would run away from it, not when they needed it the most. Tony lived happily with the feeling of a squeeze in his heart and Steve wondered about Tony's smile and how much it made him smile as well.

Staring out of the big windows into a never asleep New York, Steve and Tony let themselves sit in silence, till Tony's head fell down against Steve's shoulders and Tony spilled out more, because apparently, next to Steve, Tony talked with a purpose. There was no blabbering. Just spilled stories and secrets.

"It's because of Aunt Peggy that I know the recipe for Apple Pie by heart."

"What?"

Steve looked at Tony, but Tony still stared ahead, a part of Steve wishing for him to look back at him. The best part about Tony opening up to him wasn't the words, but the emotions his face ran through when it happened. Lord knew what those eyes, in special, did. Brown was Steve's favourite colour for a while now.

"She often came around because of Jarvis. You know, they were best friends... More than they ever were with Howard. It was a different intimacy. But yeah... She came around when it was just me and Jarvis, and she used to spend days here, on the longest summer days. I remember she was the one that told me every story about you. At least, the ones that really mattered. She made you sound human and very real. You weren't just Captain America. You were also her Steve Rogers. And yeah... Uh... While she was here, besides being a little prick and making her run after me in Captain America PJ's, I also baked for her. She loved Apple Pie. She used to say it was probably the best American thing... After you, that is."

Steve chuckled back the tears in his eyes, swallowing down the longing for something that had never been his, but damn, how he wished. He wished he had been there, not only for Peggy, but for Jarvis that he wished he had met, for Maria and Howard that he wished he supported, for Tony... Steve wished he had been there for Tony, through every good and bad phase of his life.

"Sounds a lot like her, indeed."

Tony now looked at Steve, a small smile on the corners of his mouth and his fingers slowly interlocking with Steve's. Steve was breathless, but this one thought kept coming back: He was glad to be here for Tony now. He was here for Tony.

Steve squeezed Tony's fingers and with a ghost of a smile leaned his forehead against Tony's, closing his eyes and breathing in.

Tony looked at Steve's long lashes, at the sight of Steve this close and held in the need to laugh out of happiness and just closed his eyes, breathing in and out, breathing in and out Steve. God, this was... This was it.

"Thank you, Tony. For telling me all this. For trusting me with something you didn't have to... It's personal. It's memories. But... thank you and thank you for tonight. You have no idea how much I needed this."

Both laughed with tears about to roll down, but happy tears, happy tears and staring right into each other's eyes, Tony nodded.

_Thank **you,** Steve._

The oven clock went off, calling them over to the pie again, which as soon as it was taken out of the oven, its delicious smell enveloped the whole main area. Tony put it in the prettiest plate they had and presented it in the middle of the breakfast table. Both looked at it: Tony with a blinding smiling, thinking he still got it, that aunt Peggy, Jarvis and his mom would be proud; and Steve with an open mouth, because damn, Tony did know how to bake.

"It looks delicious, Tony. It also looks beautiful. I... I'm speechless."

"I like that reaction on you, Cap."

Steve looked exasperatedly at Tony, but before he could even answer the tease that Tony was, the main area was suddenly full.

Thor walked in, sweatpants on only, but still, some sweatpants for the sake of all their heads, in a loud thundering. Sam and Bucky, side to side, both already bickering with each other on whatever there was to bicker at almost 6 am. Vision with his hand in Wanda's, as she lied her head against his shoulder, still tired. Nat, in her sleeping gown, one hand behind her back as Clint held on to her, rubbing the sleep off of his eyes, though it was common knowledge the sleep would never go away. And Rhodey, hands in his sweatpants’ pockets, relaxed and with a bright smile at the sight of Tony and his Apple Pie.

"I see you honoured us with your baking skills, Tones."

"Honeybear, I thought you knew by now that you will always be honoured with my excellent baking skills."

Rhodey snickered and sat at the breakfast table, where everyone followed and quickly took a piece of cake, till their mouths were full and they were all moaning in pleasure and thanking Tony.

Tony hid his blush, but Steve saw it, and with a hand on Tony's small back pushed him till he was sitting down and also eating, whispering in his ear:

"You should be thanked more often. I like that reaction on you, Tony."

Tony laughed, but didn't hide how the blush intensified at Steve's words. Both smiled at each other and then at the sight in front of them.

Clint was barely awake eating his piece of cake, his head on Natasha's shoulder.

Natasha smiled at both Steve and Tony, knowing too much, knowing too well what happened that night.

Vision asked Wanda about cakes that Wanda ate as a kid so Tony could make them, and perhaps Vision could learn to bake.

Sam and Bucky were actually quiet next to each other, eating in silence, enjoying the fine delicacy of Apple Pie in their mouths.

Thor ate loudly, still flattering Tony on his baking, making Tony keep the blush on his cheeks.

Rhodey smiled at Tony, somehow relief being the emotion clear in his eyes. Relief that tonight, Tony had not been alone through the bad, and managed to find some good, something great in fact.

At that sight, the sight of a mess of a family with too many ups and downs, it all came down to two things:

Steve knew he had not failed at this, though. This team. This family. He won in this.

Tony realized he woke up from nasty nightmares to a beautiful reality that was not out of his hands. He could save them in the end. He would save them for this to continue.

Besides, they had each other.


End file.
